FOOD AND HEALTH ESSENTIALS

India “operationalises” food regulation changes

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to implement with immediate effect certain changes to that country’s food packaging and labelling regulations applicable to blended vegetable oils.

In a Notice issued in late February, the FSSAI notified its staff of its intention to immediately impose specific changes to food labelling requirements for blended vegetable oils, as follows:

For product information required to be listed on product labels, the font size of letters and numbers used must be at least 3mm;

For blended vegetable oils, the amount of each constituent oil used in the blend must be listed on a label directly below the product’s brand name, listing the percentage of each constituent oil by weight. The font size of this declaration must be at least 5mm;

Blended vegetable oils must include the additional declaration, “NOT TO BE SOLD LOOSE,” in bold type along with the name of the product on the front/central panel of the product’s packaging.

According to the FSSAI Notice, the decision for these changes to take immediate effect was taken to “ensure fair practices in trade of blended edible vegetable oils.” However, enforcement will not begin until after the final regulations are published in the Gazette of India.

The text of the FSSAI letter regarding the operationalisation of that country’s amended food packaging and labelling regulations is available here.